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So per my friend Lauren I need to post a few book reviews for you all. I really need to find a book club in the south hills or start one so I have people to talk with about these books I’m reading, yet another reason that I miss Orlando! I just finished these three books in the last few weeks, and pretty much tore through all of them quickly. I enjoyed all of them, but I have to say I couldn’t put down The Night Circus or The Secret Keeper.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.

This was a bit of a long book, but it was still a quick read. There was a lot of detail and Morgenstern really draws you in to this world. I found myself wishing that I could attend the Night Circus, much like a 12 year old wants to go to Hogwarts. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of the competition or Marco, the male lead of the book. I wasn’t a huge fan of him at first, but he grew on me slowly. Again, I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. But before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.

Now, fifty years later, the family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.

Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. Author Kate Morton, who “excels at creating absorbing mystery” (People), explores longings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes have.

I’ve read several of Kate Morton’s books and I really enjoy her style of story telling. The books I’ve read of hers always take place in the UK. Normally with two different aspects. One being someone in the present day trying to unravel a family mystery, the other is a voice from the distant past that is a part of the mystery itself. I’m still patting myself on the back for having figured out the ending before it happened. But it was probably pretty obvious to anyone familiar with Morton’s writing. I really could not put this one down, I read it in just a few days and stayed up past midnight finishing it one night.

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Spellbinding, haunting, The Age of Miracles is a beautiful novel of catastrophe and survival, growth and change, the story of Julia and her family as they struggle to live in an extraordinary time. On an ordinary Saturday, Julia awakes to discover that something has happened to the rotation of the earth. The days and nights are growing longer and longer, gravity is affected, the birds, the tides, human behavior and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. In a world of danger and loss, Julia faces surprising developments in herself, and her personal world—divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by Hannah and other friends, the vulnerability of first love, a sense of isolation, and a rebellious new strength. With crystalline prose and the indelible magic of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker gives us a breathtaking story of people finding ways to go on, in an ever-evolving world.

This one was a bit frightening in a way. It was about the earth’s rotation slowing, making our days much longer, increasing over a long time and all of the consequences that go with that. Crop failure, gravity changes, circadian rhythms and a lot of other things that we take for granted start to make huge impacts on the lives of people. The story is told through they eyes of a young girl, about 12 years old. The book never explains what happened exactly, which just makes it all the more difficult to grasp.

So if you are looking for some good books to read, I’d suggest any of these! Happy reading.